Going Deeper with The 15 Commitments: How You’ll Know You’re Leading a Conscious Organization

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People often ask us, “What will it look like when we’re really living the 15 commitments of conscious leadership in our organization?” It’s a great question because it takes all the theory and brings it right down to ground level, where leaders and their teams do their work. So here is a list of some of the things we see going on when leaders and teams are actually living the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership:

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People are saying…

“I want to take my 100% responsibility for what is happening right now.”

“Let’s separate facts from stories.”

“I realize I’m below the line. I’d like to pause for 30 seconds and breathe.”

“I appreciate you for …… (followed by a simple expression of something someone has done or been).

“The story I’m making up is ….” And they're holding their stories lightly and checking them out (“I’m making up a story about you and I want to check it out.”).

Make clear agreements; who is going to what by when and writing them down.

Use the clearing model to clear with each other regularly.

Choose play and laughter over taking themselves or issues too seriously.

Check to see if the opposite of their story could be as true or truer than their story.

Renegotiate agreements they no longer plan to keep before the agreement is broken.

Are clear and aligned around their zone of genius. This could be as simple as having a card on everyone’s desk that says, “Hi, my name is Jim and my zone of genius includes __________.”

Practice 4 X 4 breaths. This is simply 4 breaths with a 4 second inhale and a 4 second exhale to shift back into presence.

Take meditation breaks throughout the day.

Choose not to gossip.

Business as usual looks like:

A tissue box in every conference room because we welcome people feeling sad and shedding a tear.

The victim, villain hero cards are on the floor. People will say, “I’m on the drama triangle around this issue. ” Then they physically get on the triangle and exaggerating the drama for two minutes.

Meetings (including 1-1s) begin with presencing and a check in. This can look like one minute of stillness and silence followed by reporting a current body sensation, feeling state (sad, angry, scared, joy, sexual/creative) and a thought that is here now.

Taking naps when tired.

Holding meetings occasionally during a walk.

Conference rooms, walls, desks and offices have artifacts (see below example) that remind people to practice.